Recently I’ve noticed how sad my gelding’s plain black halter is. I decided that I wanted to paint it and picked out a design and everything, except that I’m just not sure if fabric paint will stick/stay. Obviously I’m not expecting it to look like it’s embroidered on, but I just don’t want it to peel/chip off really quickly. Does anyone have experience with this?
I can’t imagine it would stick very well to begin with, let alone hold up over time. Horse stuff gets used pretty hard, and the markings even wear off from the things I’ve labeled in Sharpie. Nylon halters are usually fairly stiff and textured, not like painting on nylon fabric. Personally I would probably just buy a new halter that already has a cool design.
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That’s sort of what I’m worried about. I think I might just buy a new halter w/ a cool design or check with one of the places in town that does embroidery and see if they think they’ll be able to do something simple. Idk, but thank you for the input!
If you’re going to buy a new halter anyway, you may as well try the fabric paint first and see how it does. I’ve used the “puffy paint” fabric paint to mark names on fly masks etc. and it holds up pretty well, but halters do take more of a beating.
Grey
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Most places that do embroidery don’t have the neccessary equipment to sew through thick nylon.
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My wife has painted ours on many occasions with a horse’s name (nothing more fancy than that) and it has been “OK.” Sort of in the way a current TV commercial sequence is built on the line, “Just OK?” It will let you know which halter is yours but not much more.
Many commonly available embroidery machines will do one layer of material. This means you could disassemble a halter, have the top layer done, and then put it back together again. That last task might require going to a cobbler’s shop to find a sewing machine heavy enough to do the job. Otherwise it would be a hand stitching job and that would take some time and effort.
G.
I’d think puffy paint would hold up for awhile. It might be the kind of project that gets re-done once a year to keep looking nice though.
I’ve never sewn a halter, but I have sewn nylon webbing, and I was shocked at how easily it went! A heavy duty needle and my little sewing machine ticked along like a dream! The halter would have to be properly clean though.
I was sewing ribbon on, which would be another idea. Either puffy paint the ribbon and then rip it off and replace when it starts looking sad, or just sew on some pretty printed ribbon along any single-layer portions of the halter.
I have seen more than one halter decorated with puffy paint (lesson horses done by lesson students during summer camp). It seems to hold up OK considering it is paint on a halter. I say give it a try.
I’ve done the fabric no-turn bell boots with velcro and it’s held up pretty well (plus no one borrows my bell boots with my name on them in giant letters) so a halter might work OK. Might actually stick better to a new halter than to an old one.
After reading all your responses I’m going to try puffy paint. If that doesn’t work oh well 
About 20 yr’s ago I bought a black Hamilton halter and matching lead. It had carrots and apples painted on them.To me it looked like some thing called Liquid Embroidery. I still use them and the carrots and apples are still good as new. Look for it in a craft store.
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Puff paint that you squeeze on will eventually crack and pick off, but that’s okay bcs it’s fun while it lasts.
Last year i sent my filly for surgery in a very well decorated pink halter. She was like, so embarrassed. i like to think anyone who handled her while she was away had a giggle.
If you use paint and a brush it melds into the nylon better and lasts a bit longer 
Black or brown boot/shoe dye will certainly stain it a different color…I don’t know how fancy it will look, though!
You could also do something simple like make fabric sleeves to go over the noseband and cheek pieces. I have a favourite faux zebra print fabric that I use to cover the webbing on the noseband of flymasks. I do it to reduce rubbing, but it does look really pretty too, LOL. What about something like a faux sheepskin in a bright colour?
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